A bit disappointed with Mr. Mercedes?

[notebookgirl]

I wasn't disappointed, A few parts were predictable. Still, other parts left you guessing, "which one?" There were a lot of twists and turns. You thought OK, it's going into this direction and then it turns around into another. I wouldn't say it was my favorites, but I enjoyed it. I am interested to see what will be next. On a final note, he blew my mind with Joyland, and this book is not to that level.

 

[Haunted]

I loved Mr. Mercedes, but I then I love most all of Mr. King's characters!! And the fact that it is the first in a trilogy has me smiling all the way to the bookstore.

 

[VultureLvr45]

Welcome Sara love and John Adams. I respectfully disagree with the 'worst King ever' viewpoint. You forget, he puts a little bit of his soul into each book. So he wants to try out different genres, so what? The man could have retired many years ago but didn't. Why? Because he loves to write. Because the world clamors for new Stephen King books continuously. Everyone has an opinion, I'm just glad this mans voice has been heard so well and that he continues to entertain us with tales from his mind.

 

[aussie12]

Hi all
I just finished reading this book today and like Sarah I am a bit disappointed too. As it was a quite predictable book I was getting excited for a great ending but it was a bit boring and not what a Stephen King ending should be.
I didn't know that there is going to be 2 more books in this series. If a book is 1 of 3 the ending should make you wish that the next book was out all ready but Mr Mercedes doesn't do that for me.

 

[Neesy]

Hi all
I just finished reading this book today and like Sarah I am a bit disappointed too. As it was a quite predictable book I was getting excited for a great ending but it was a bit boring and not what a Stephen King ending should be.
I didn't know that there is going to be 2 more books in this series. If a book is 1 of 3 the ending should make you wish that the next book was out all ready but Mr Mercedes doesn't do that for me.

Too bad - we all can't like the same things. I thought it was excellent and I am looking forward to Revival coming out in November!
Which books of his do you like?

 

[aussie12]

Hi Neesy
I'm a huge fan of Stephen King but every now and again I just can't get into his stories.
My favourites are The Stand, The Dark Tower series, most of his short stories and heaps more.
I've been trying to read The Shining for months but have only got about half way as I brought the follow up book and realised that I had never read The Shining !!! Some books are just hard to get into.

 

[John Adam]

Hi Neesy
I'm a huge fan of Stephen King but every now and again I just can't get into his stories.
My favourites are The Stand, The Dark Tower series, most of his short stories and heaps more.
I've been trying to read The Shining for months but have only got about half way as I brought the follow up book and realised that I had never read The Shining !!! Some books are just hard to get into.

Hi Aussie12,
I couldn't agree with you more. Maybe us aussies just have higher expectations than the run-of-the-mill fan on this forum! I'm from Perth, and you?
I just finished Joyland. I don't think it was initially released in Aus, so I only learned of its existence fairly recently. What a difference!!! Joyland is a brilliant book, everything SK should be. You would not think Joyland and Mr Crap Mercedes could be written by the same author.... maybe SK out-contracted the writing of the latter??

 

[FlakeNoir]

Hi Aussie12,
I couldn't agree with you more. Maybe us aussies just have higher expectations than the run-of-the-mill fan on this forum! I'm from Perth, and you?
I just finished Joyland. I don't think it was initially released in Aus, so I only learned of its existence fairly recently. What a difference!!! Joyland is a brilliant book, everything SK should be. You would not think Joyland and Mr Crap Mercedes could be written by the same author.... maybe SK out-contracted the writing of the latter??

Nope. Though he doesn't expect to please everyone all of the time.

 

[John Adam]

Nope. Though he doesn't expect to please everyone all of the time.

Yes, everyone says that: That he can't please everyone all of the time. And I get that, but it's just that the style is so different, the dialogue seems forced in Mr Mercedes (I found the same in Insomnia, that's why I didn't like that book either), whereas in Joyland it seems so 'real'. SK himself once said that the story just sort of 'pours' out of him, he doesn't know himself what's going to happen. And you can feel that in most of his books, but in Mr Mercedes it's like he sat down and actually thought about what he wants to happen, what the characters should say, etc. It just did not feel as natural as it should be. That's it, enough complaining from me I guess.

 

[FlakeNoir]

Yes, everyone says that: That he can't please everyone all of the time. And I get that, but it's just that the style is so different, the dialogue seems forced in Mr Mercedes (I found the same in Insomnia, that's why I didn't like that book either), whereas in Joyland it seems so 'real'. SK himself once said that the story just sort of 'pours' out of him, he doesn't know himself what's going to happen. And you can feel that in most of his books, but in Mr Mercedes it's like he sat down and actually thought about what he wants to happen, what the characters should say, etc. It just did not feel as natural as it should be. That's it, enough complaining from me I guess.

I hear what you are saying, but I wouldn't expect every story to have the same feel or flow, we are not the same people our whole lives long and I'm sure lots of different factors come into play when somebody is writing. (and for us as readers too)
But again, it's okay to not like something.

My knee-jerk reaction to your previous post I guess was triggered by the "Mr Crap Mercedes" comment. You seem to have read and enjoyed quite a few of his stories, but feel it is okay to insult the man like this on his site because you didn't enjoy one or two stories? I sometimes wonder if people would treat him the same way in person?

 

[GNTLGNT]

I hear what you are saying, but I wouldn't expect every story to have the same feel or flow, we are not the same people our whole lives long and I'm sure lots of different factors come into play when somebody is writing. (and for us as readers too)
But again, it's okay to not like something.

My knee-jerk reaction to your previous post I guess was triggered by the "Mr Crap Mercedes" comment. You seem to have read and enjoyed quite a few of his stories, but feel it is okay to insult the man like this on his site because you didn't enjoy one or two stories? I sometimes wonder if people would treat him the same way in person?

...no they wouldn't...they don't have the sack to say it to his face...easier to slink in here and insult our host and the rest of us "run of the mill fans", then go back into mom's basement...

 

[AnnaMarie]

Hi all
I just finished reading this book today and like Sarah I am a bit disappointed too. As it was a quite predictable book I was getting excited for a great ending but it was a bit boring and not what a Stephen King ending should be.
I didn't know that there is going to be 2 more books in this series. If a book is 1 of 3 the ending should make you wish that the next book was out all ready but Mr Mercedes doesn't do that for me.

That's exactly what it did for me. Left me wishing the next book was already available. (And thankful there are release date, unlike DT that left people waiting forever. There are release dates, right?)

Hi Aussie12,
I couldn't agree with you more. Maybe us aussies just have higher expectations than the run-of-the-mill fan on this forum! I'm from Perth, and you?
I just finished Joyland. I don't think it was initially released in Aus, so I only learned of its existence fairly recently. What a difference!!! Joyland is a brilliant book, everything SK should be. You would not think Joyland and Mr Crap Mercedes could be written by the same author.... maybe SK out-contracted the writing of the latter??

Well that's just rude. Come to his on-line home and insult the man. I didn't enjoy Joyland, but I never called it crap. It's just not my cuppa. And obviously it's up to his usual writing because a lot of people do love it.

 

[aussie12]

Hi all
John I'm in Perth as well, I read Joyland and I liked that book a lot, it's been out for months so you must have missed it.
I've found on other forums that I go on that lots of people don't get Aussies and how we speak. We have a totally different way with English. We say that things are crap all the time about heaps of stuff.
Mr King shouldn't be offended about that at all, for the few books that I don't like there are about 10 that I love.

 

[FlakeNoir]

Hi all
John I'm in Perth as well, I read Joyland and I liked that book a lot, it's been out for months so you must have missed it.
I've found on other forums that I go on that lots of people don't get Aussies and how we speak. We have a totally different way with English. We say that things are crap all the time about heaps of stuff.
Mr King shouldn't be offended about that at all, for the few books that I don't like there are about 10 that I love.

We have other Aussie members on this board and I am a Kiwi. (so no stranger to the Aussie lingo)
But, as I said before--it's perfectly okay to not like something that you've read.

 

[Haunted]

I loved the characters and their story!!!

 

[GNTLGNT]

We have other Aussie members on this board and I am a Kiwi. (so no stranger to the Aussie lingo)
But, as I said before--it's perfectly okay to not like something that you've read.

 

[blunthead]

I'm absolutely loving Mercedes. Maybe that's largely due to my enjoyment of detective murder mysteries. But I'm telling anyone who cares what my humble opinion is that Mr Mercedes is as well-written a book as I've ever read.

 

[blunthead]

Hi Aussie12,
I couldn't agree with you more. Maybe us aussies just have higher expectations than the run-of-the-mill fan on this forum! I'm from Perth, and you?
I just finished Joyland. I don't think it was initially released in Aus, so I only learned of its existence fairly recently. What a difference!!! Joyland is a brilliant book, everything SK should be. You would not think Joyland and Mr Crap Mercedes could be written by the same author.... maybe SK out-contracted the writing of the latter??

You might be an exception to the rule, but the Aussies I've met at SKMB don't seem to think they are superior in any way to us "run-of-the-mill".

 

[AchtungBaby]

I thought Mr. Mercedes was great--one of King's best, actually. But to each his own.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

King ruined Joyland for me with that boolsheet about Cheney's heart at the end of the story, wtf cares about a heart...all of sudden like, this character is political when he was not that way throughout the story, so meh on Joyland...one thumb down, other than that, okee-dokee...so maybe Mr. Mercedes will receive a new heart when the story picks up, only that will make things worst, wouldn't it?